USA > Georgia > Bibb County > Macon > Georgia Baptists: historical and biographical > Part 23
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Mr. Vining was a firm believer in the Calvinistic doctrines, and, of course, constantly defended them-such as election, pre- destination, effectual calling, and the final perseverence of the saints through grace to eternal glory. These were his constant and favorite topics. It has been, we know, the opinion of many that the preaching of these doctrines is not favorable to the conversion of sinners ; but the reverse of this was mani- fested in the ministry of Mr. Vining. He preached the doctrine of election without reserve. It was his theme, and yet few have
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been more successful in the conversion of sinners to God, and in promoting practical godliness in the churches.
REV. SAMUEL SPRY LAW.
The Rev. Samuel Spry Law, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Law, was born in Liberty county, Georgia, in the year 1774. His father removed from Charleston, South Carolina, some years before the birth of his son, Samuel, and settled on the seaboard of Liberty county, and engaged in planting. He was a man of piety-a member of the Episcopal church-of strict integrity and great firmness. His mother, whose maiden name was Spry, was a woman of uncommon fortitude, as we may learn from a little incident in her life, which occurred during the darkest period of the revolutionary war. On one occasion, while her husband was absent from home, their house was plun- dered by the tories. She was alone with her children. Upon leaving, they attempted to set fire to the house, but to this she would not submit. As soon as they had kindled a fire, she ex- tinguished it, for which she was knocked down, They attempt- ed to fire the building the second time, and the second time she put the fire out and was knocked down. This was repeated the third time, when some of the party, with a little more feeling than the rest, persuaded their companions to desist and not burn the house. Their son, Samuel, inherited the firmness of his parents, for he was a man of undaunted courage and great firmness of purpose. He grew up during the days of " saddle- bag teachers " and " old-field schools "-names very expressive of the intellectual furniture of the schoolmaster, and literary fertility of the institutions-and he consequently received only the barest rudiments of an English education, such as spelling, reading, writing and simple arithmetic. The best advantages he enjoyed during his youth, were from a two years' residence in the family of a French Marquis, on Sapelo island. In that family he learned to speak the French language with tolerable fluency, and he there acquired that ease and suavity of man- ners which continued with him through life.
After he became of age and settled in life, his position in so- ciety gave him the advantages of association with intelligent
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and educated men, which his naturally strong mind and sound judgment turned to good account. His occupation was that of a planter. Up to the age of forty, he was strictly a man of the world. He was a man of high toned feeling, proud, fond of gay life, generous and hospitable almost to a fault. He was passion- ately fond of military life, and indulged his taste as far as cir- cumstances would allow. At the age of twenty-five, he married Miss Mary Anderson, of Liberty county, who lived but eleven months after the marriage. She left one son, who survived his mother but eighteen months. In 1802, he was married to Miss Rebecca G. Hughes, of Charleston, by whom he had ten chil- dren, some of whom are still living. Soon after his second mar- riage, he made Sunbury the place of his summer residence. In this place there was a Congregational church, and about this time a Baptist church began to rise up under the labors of Rev. C. O. Screven. Mr. Law and his family became members of the congregation of the Congregational church, and some time after his connection with that congregation, he was elected clerk of the selectmen, as we learn from a letter dated 1811, written by the Baptist church to the Congregational church, and addressed to Captain S. S. Law, as clerk of the selectmen of the Congre- gational church. In the opposition (and there was much,) that was made to the establishment of a Baptist church in Sunbury, he took a very active part. Some one or two years after this, his wife having experienced a change of heart, expressed a de- sire to unite herself to the Baptist church. This was very much against his wishes, and contrary to his expectations, still he did not oppose her, but simply said to her, "You can do as you please ; but remember, when I become a christian, I shall go the other way." It was about this time that, rejecting the doc- trine of regeneration, he commenced becoming moralist, upon which he rested his hope of acceptance with God. In accord- ance with his plan, he became a strict moralist, holding worship morning and evening in his family, which he continued for a while, but at length, " finding it useless," as he said, he gave it up. This attempt at self-justification by good works, doubtless arose from a heart ill at ease respecting his future state.
Among his papers was found a brief account of his feelings, the fall of 1814, before his conversion ; it was written after his
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conversion. Here follows as much of it as is deemed necessary : " The day I was forty years of age, I thought much of another world, and prayed most fervently to God that if there really was another state of existence, and a change of heart was ne( - essary, that I might be convinced of it before the year was out, , or rather before I was forty-one years of age. My mind was more serious than usual all the fall; frequently found myself absorbed in thought, and at times so absent that I was hardly able to attend to business. In the month of December follow- ing, a Mr. Flint, a young clergyman from New England, came to my house. I was pleased with his appearance and manners ; he was to preach in the meeting-house in the evening. I at first thought I would go and hear him preach ; again I concluded I would not go ; that I seldom heard any preaching which was of benefit to me. The thought then occurred to me that on my birth-day I had prayed to be made sensible of the reality of re- ligion, and if there was any truth in it, to be convinced of it in the course of the year. This question was then suggested to my mind : What are considered the effectual means of salva- tion ? God maketh the reading, but more especially the preach- ing of his word, an effectual means of salvation. While reflect- ing upon this answer, the expression, 'especially the preaching of his word,' struck me so forcibly that my mind was made up in an instant to go and hear the preaching in the evening, which I did. While standing up during the first prayer, my heart was lifted up to God in prayer, that if a change of heart was necessary to salvation, I might be convinced of it that night. The sermon was from the text, 'Repent, for the king- dom of heaven is at hand.' During the sermon, I felt that the foundations of my moral system were giving away, and that I must repent of even my self-righteousness, which I had thought would carry me to heaven. When I went to bed that night, I 'elt that I was one of the worst kind of men."
The January following, 1815, being major of cavalry, he was ordered with the squadron to join the troops assembling in Da- ien to repel a threatened attack upon the place by the English. The stirring scenes of military service would in all probability ave erased from his mind the favorable impressions that had een made upon his heart just the month before, but God was
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watching over and guarding the good seed that had been sown in his heart. When one day he was about to engage in drilling the squadron, he was taken suddenly ill and would have fallen from his horse, but was prevented by his aid and a very inti- mate and dear friend, Captain Joseph Jones, then commanding the Liberty Independent Troop, who took him from his horse and carried him to his quarters. He continued very sick du- ring the stay of the troops in Darien, and he was not able to return home until some time after the army was disbanded upon the declaration of peace. The circumstance of his sudden attack impressed his mind deeply with the uncertainty of life and his entire unfitness for death. As soon as he could ride he returned home, more deeply impressed with the necessity of a change of heart and more troubled about sin than when he left it. He continued in a very distressed and dejected state of mind until the April following, when he found peace in believing in Jesus Christ. A few days after indulging a hope, he applied to the Sunbury Baptist church for membership, and being re- ceived for baptism, he was, on the 30th of April, 1815, baptized by Rev. C. O. Screven, the pastor, and became a member of the church. Years afterward, when reverting to this period of his life, I have heard him state that when he left his house to go to the church to relate his experience, he felt that his strength would fail him before he reached the meeting-house. His feet seemed weighted with lead. He felt that his mind was all darkness, that he had nothing to say, and he wondered why he was going. After reaching the meeting, and he was called upon to relate what God had done for him, he arose and com- menced, and though at first embarrassed, yet soon light burst in upon his mind. His heart became filled with the love of God, his tongue became loosed, and he knew not when or where to stop. So affecting was the relation he gave of God's merci- ful dealings with him, that there was not, I have heard an eye witness state, a dry eye in the house. In the brief account he gives of his conversion, from which an extract has already been given, he thus speaks of his feelings after his conversion : "I feel that I have been asleep for many years and have just awoke-all nature is more beautiful around me, whereas all was gloom and despair. God has withdrawn far from me, and
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left me to myself because I did not desire the knowledge of his ways. I had thought I would build up a system of morality to save myself, until he convinced me that it was without any foundation, and he overthrew it all at once, just when I was consoling myself that I was getting it to be a very perfect structure. No man on earth could have convinced me of my error, and I did not attribute it to anything Mr. Flint said, or to his knowledge of the human heart, but that he was sent by God with such words in his mouth to convince me that I must. repent of all my sins, and even of all my self-righteousness, and that I must build upon the chief corner-stone, Jesus Christ. After my conversion, I commenced the worship of God in my family. "I had once before attempted it, but gave it up, consid- ering it useless, but I now regard it as one of my most import- ant duties and one of the greatest pleasures of life to acknowl- edge our sins before God, to ask for pardon, to return thanks for all his blessings, and to glorify his great name. Indeed, I feel that I might as well try to live without food and sleep as to live without endeavoring to glorify God."
His connecting himself with a Baptist church was somewhat remarkable, as all his former prejudices were in favor of the pædo-Baptists. He had been brought up in the faith of podo- baptism. His father was an Episcopalian, and all his brothers who had professed religion were members of a pædo-Baptist church. But he consulted not with flesh and flood, and taking his Bible for his guide, he followed what he believed to be its teachings. This disposition to follow not men but the word of God, as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, which was thus clearly manifested in his first step in his christian life, gov- erned him through the whole of it. Conscious of great spirit- ual ignorance, but relying upon the safety of the direction with the promise annexed, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not," he applied him- self diligently to the study of the scriptures. He asked and studied, and studied and asked again, and he asked and studied not in vain. The almost worn out leaves of his Bible are wit- nesses of his constant application, and there are many now living who can testify to the thoroughness and soundness of his knowledge of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible.
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From the records of the Sunbury Baptist church we learn that he was elected clerk of the church in the place of Sumner Winn, resigned, on the 17th of August, 1816, a little more than a year after becoming a member.
Having lost his second wife, he was married to Miss Temper- ance Wood, of Sunbury, on the 1st of December, 1818. By this marriage he had three children, of whom only one survives.
May 15th, 1819, he was clected and ordained to the sacred office of deacon. No one, perhaps, possessed more fully than he did the qualifications for this sacred office. Hc "used the office of a deacon well," for he did thereby "purchasc to him- self a good degree," whether by this be meant an elevated sta- tion as a christian, or a higher post, the office of elder or bishop, and he did, sooner than christians gencrally, acquire great boldness in the faith. In filling the office of a deacon, he did not limit himself to serving tables. He freely and humbly exercised the gifts God had given him, having an ardent desire to glorify God in his day and generation. The health of Mr. Screven being infirm, from a cancer in one of his eyes, he gave him much assistance in attending to the colored people of the church and congregation. In the conference and social prayer meeting he expounded the scriptures and exhorted his brethren to diligence and perseverance in the divine life. His precepts in the religious meeting were eminently enforced by his daily walk. He labored diligently and perseveringly after that at- tainment in piety to which he exhortcd his brethren.
Having for several years exercised his gifts before the church, and having in the opinion of his brethren made considerable progress in knowledge and piety, and showing considerable aptness to teach, his brethren, in order to increase his uscful- ness, urged upon him the acceptance of a license to preach, which he did. The first notice we have of his preaching as a licentiate is from a minute in the church records, dated No- vember 19th, 1825, in which it is stated that he preached the sermon preparatory to the Lord's Supper-we presume because of the indisposition of the pastor. On account of the great destitution of ministerial labor within the bounds of the Sun- bury Baptist Association-many of the churches being almost studies entirely without the ministration of the word-the church and sti
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called him to go forth as an evangelist, and to this end they invited a presbytery, which convened in the Sunbury Baptist church, December 27th, 1827, who, having examined him, pro- ceeded to ordain him. The presbytery consisted of William B. Johnson, D. D., elders Wilson Conner, Jacob Dunham, James Shannon, and the pastor, Charles O. Screven.
It was with particular reference to the wants of the colored people on the seaboard, and the poor white churches of the Sunbury Association, that, in obedience to the call of his breth- ren, the subject of this sketch consented to assume the duties and responsibilities of the ministry. This was the field of his choice, for the desire of his heart was to do good, and in this field he felt he could do the most good. But the providence of God disappointed him in his design of confining his labors ex- clusively to this field. The Rev. C. O. Screven becoming en- tirely disabled for preaching from the cancer in his eye, resigned the pastoral charge of the Sunbury Baptist church, May 16th, 1829. The church, in her destitute situation, looked to him to go in and out before them, and to break unto them the bread of life. He was unwilling to take the oversight of them, be- cause, from his want of education, he felt that he was not qual- ified to be the religious teacher of such a congregation as then met in Sunbury for worship. But rather than the church should suffer, and there being hundreds of colored people connected with it who must be taken care of, he determined, in the strength of the Lord, to take up the cross in their service. In connection with this church, he also served, but not as pastor, the North Newport Baptist church, Liberty county. Though, by this arrangement, his itinerating was curtailed, still it placed him, perhaps, more fully in one part of the field of his choice- the colored people ; for there were a great many connected with the churches and congregations he now labored with. To the colored people of the North Newport church and congregation he devoted the afternoon of every Sabbath he preached in that church.
In the fall of 1830, his son, J. S. Law, returned from the North, where he had been pursuing a course of theological studies. As the church could now be supplied without him, und still wishing to carry out his original plans, he gave up the
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charge of the church. The following year, receiving a call from the North Newport church. to become its pastor, he accepted the call, as this would not interfere with his plans, but further them, and took a letter of dismission from the Sunbury church to the former. About this time the Rev. C. C. Jones commenced his labors among the colored people in Liberty county, and he found in him a warm, zealous and efficient supporter and follow- laborer. Oh, how his heart leaped for joy when he first wit- nessed the performances of the colored children in the Sabbath- school, under the instruction of Mr. Jones. He rejoiced, for in this system of instruction he saw the prospect of materially and permanently improving the moral character of our colored population.
Three or four years before his death, he gave up the charge of the North Newport church and gave his whole time to preaching to the poor white churches in the back parts of Lib- erty county, and in some of the adjoining counties, and also to the colored people.
We come now to the closing days of his life, which " were, indeed, dark, painful, distressing in the extreme."
From his strong frame, robust constitution, almost uninter- rupted health and his habit of life, one would have judged that he certainly would have lived out the full measure of the days allotted to man in this life. But, without any previous sick- ness, his health, without any apparent. cause, began suddenly to decline in the summer of 1836. The best medical advice was obtained upon the first indications of disease, but it was of no avail, for he continued gradually to waste away, in flesh and strength. He suffered no pain, but experienced a most unpleas- ant and indescribable sensation in his left side, which he more than once said he would cheerfully exchange for acute pain. Ho was not confined to his bed nor to the house during the first part of his sickness. His appetite was good, and he experi- enced no inconvenience from eating whatever he relished. Ev- ery remedy tried by his physicians failed, and they were at a loss to know what was the true nature or precise location of his disease. To one of his physicians, who was speaking to him of the novelty and hidden nature of his complaint, he calmly replied, " God has a way to take every man out of the world,
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and the disease from which I am suffering is the way in which I am to go." He seemed fully impressed from the first of the attack that he should not recover. He arranged all his worldly matters in the first stage of his sickness, and then dismissed them from his mind as things with which he had no more to. do. He often spoke of his approaching dissolution, and he truly spoke of it as one who was strong in the Lord. No doubt overshadowed his faith-no fear disturbed his hope. His soul rested with unshaken confidence in the merits of Christ for ac- ceptance with God. He was usually cheerful, yet it was the cheerfulness of the christian chastened to a temper becoming one who felt that the time of his departure was at hand. Such being the uniform tenor of his mind during the summer and fall, how great was my astonishment when, on the 9th of Jan- uary, 1837, at four o'clock in the morning, he had me called to him .* When I came to his bedside, he told me, with the deep- est distress, that he had been deceiving himself; that he had never known Christ. He expressed himself in such a manner as induced me to ask him if he had been living in any secret sin. He exclaimed, "God forbid ! I have never sinned know- ingly and intentionally against God since I professed the name of Jesus. But," said he, "I am lost, I shall be damned." I was so perfectly astounded I knew not what to say. After a little pause, he again exclaimed, "But God will be glorified !" I asked him if the thought that God would be glorified in his de- struction gave him any satisfaction ? He replied, "Yes, the glory of God is all I desire, whether it be in my salvation or in my condemnation-if He be glorified, I am satisfied." I re- marked to him that an unregenerate man could not feel so. He answered, "My mind is much enlightened, but my heart is des- titute of holiness." Finding it useless to argue the point with him, I turned the conversation so as to lead him to express him- self upon the great love of Christ, his favorite theme. It had the desired effect; he was soon melted into tears, and after a few moments, became composed in his mind.
The next day, Tuesday, he was still more gloomy than at any former period. He said he was without hope and without God. I told him his feelings were the result of his disease. He re-
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plied, "Do not deceive yourself ; I am a monument of God's vengeance, and he will make me an example to all others." I took him to ride and tried in every way to divert his mind, but it was useless-dark melancholy seemed settled immovably on . his mind. For the first time I feared he was becoming insane. He had not yet been confined to bed. Though I hoped and prayed God would save his servant from such a terrible affic- tion as the loss of his reason, yet he saw fit to order otherwise. On Friday morning the seal of insanity was fixed, blotting out all hope, and overshadowing the whole family with the deepest gloom. On that terrible morning he became angry with me for praying for him during family worship. He had not risen from his bed. He called me to his bedside, and in the most pre- emptory manner commanded me never to pray for him again. He refused his food, and gave such evidence of entire insanity that from that day until I closed his eyes in death I never left him. To the inquiries of his friends who came to see him re- specting his health, he had but one answer, "Lost, lost for- ever !" His physician now blistered him extensively, which confined him to his bed, and which he never left until carried to the place appointed for all living. For whole nights would he lie without closing his eyes, grinding his teeth and speaking in the most terrific language of the destruction that was coming upon him. Sometimes he would rouse up from his slumbers at night and inquire, " Is it time or eternity ?" Upon being an- swered that it was still time, he would in the most thrilling manner exclaim, "Eternity ! oh, eternity, eternity !" During his derangement, which lasted until a few hours before his death, he had two lucid intervals. Of one of them, the last be- fore the day of his death, being the clearest and longest, though only lasting three hours, and the most satisfactory, I shall give a minute account of it : On Wednesday morning, 1st of Feb- ruary, his paroxysm of insanity was unusually violent and he was entirely unmanageable. He would not allow me to do any- . thing for him, not even to approach his bed. About midday I heard him say, as though speaking to himself, " I cannot give up Christ." He then beckoned me to him. On going to him, he asked me if I thought he would ever give up Christ ? I re- plied, " No, I am satisfied that you cannot." He then said, " I
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shall never give him up." He asked me to pray for him, which I did. I regarded this request as a good indication of returning reason, for it was the first time he had made such a request since the morning he angrily commanded me not to do it. After prayer I recited several passages of scripture to him, with which he seemed much pleased. Upon repeating the verse "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us," he exclaimed, " Glorious truth ! delightful truth !" I also repeated, " We are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God." He remarked, "Grace, grace, and only grace." I repeated many more suitable to his condition, which seemed to fill him with delight, and, what was a little remarkable, of every verse I quoted he would immedi- ately tell me in what gospel or epistle and chapter it was, and its number. Whilst engaged in this exercise I placed my fin- gers upon his pulse and found it so feeble I thought he was sinking. Upon doing this he remarked to me, "I am almost gone." I asked him if his head had not been very much con- fused ? He replied, "Yes, but it is much clearer now." As soon as I was satisfied that he was himself, I called the family and told them his reason had returned, but I thought he was sinking fast. He recognized the different members of the family. About this time a very dear and intimate friend of his came to the house, and I asked him if he wished to see him ? He said " Yes." Upon his coming into the room he grasped his hand and thus spoke to him, " Have you come to see me ? Have you any hope ? What is your hope ? Oh, I beg you as a dying man not to put off repentance another day. You see what a poor, wretched creature I should be if I had put off re- pentance to a dying bed." As soon as the brethren in Sunbury heard of his situation they came to see him. He addressed them all affectionately by name and told them he was going home. But his hour had not yet come. He had not yet drunk to the full of the cup his heavenly father had given him to drink. As soon as his fever returned, he lost himself and be- came as entirely deranged as ever. His sufferings increased as he drew near his end. On Saturday, the 4th, he was again more lucid in his mind, but it was very apparent that he was
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